On the day of her mother’s death, Sofia must return to her family home and finally face her estranged father: the woman she never knew.

Interview with Producer Lukasz Domanski

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

There were two reasons why we made Wannabe. Marco the director has had recently come out to his family, so he felt that he wanted to write and make a film which tells a story of a person who’s happy with who they are, even if this initially could be a shock to those around them. Also, the main character, Donna (use to be Raymond) is a character Marco thought about for quite some time and he wanted to give her a life of some sorts.

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

I think this film is aimed at anyone who’s either struggling with their sexuality or used to. By showing an extreme case (trangender parent) I think they will be able to feel more relaxed about their own struggle with accepting themselves. This is why we also felt that making this film as a comedy (at least in part) will help to look at this problem from a distance and see a bigger picture.

WANNABE

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

I think that for both Marco and me this film has been very personal. We both came out to our family and friends so the character of Donna feels very close to our hearts. However the universal part of the film is the fact that the broken family shown in the film can come together in the end through love and some level of acceptance.

How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?

From the beginning we knew that the story had to be quite self-contained, so we first started from Donna and her relationship with her daughter. After knowing what sort of problems they dealt with and how they could be resolved Marco (writer/director) built the story around it, making sure that everything happens entirely during one late morning on a cold day in London.

I have to say that from that moment onwards the story hasn’t really changed, we may have added a couple of details to emphasise the way the characters feel at any given time.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

Feedback has been very good so far. We were shortlisted to a number of festivals around the world, including Inside Out in Toronto. We also won the Side By Side Film Festival in Saint Petersburg (best short drama).

WANNABE

Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?

Not really, however we’ve learnt a lot about the lives of transgender people during the casting process. We’ve received feedback on the script through their own experiences, which they were very happy to share. What we found very interesting was the fact that for a transgender person making the decision to change their gender is extremely dramatic and shows that throughout their lives they have hidden more than just their sexuality, but all of their personality and lead lives which are filled with lies sometimes, only to hide their true self.

What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?

We would like to make the transgender issues more public and also make people talk about the issues the LGBT community struggles with.

What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?

We want people to care for Donna and her daughter but we don’t want them to feel sorry for them, we want the audience to feel hopeful after the film ends.

WANNABE

What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?

Is it possible to hurt the closest to you by leading the life you really want?

What are the key creatives developing or working on now?

Unfortunately at the moment we’re all working full time but always thinking of something else to be involved in.

We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela

On the day of her mother’s death, Sofia must return to her family home and finally face her estranged father: the woman she never knew.

Length: 12mins

Director: Marco Calabrese,

Producer: Marco Calabrese, Lukasz Domanski, Karen Taylor

Writer: Marco Calabrese

About the writer, director and producer:

Writer/Director/Producer: Marco Calabrese is an Italian filmmaker/production co-orditnator, currently working on Game of Thrones. He’s been working on a number of UK and US based dramas, same as big American Productions.

Producer: Lukasz Domanski, Post-Producer/TV Producer with years of experience in working in Adverising, also based in the UK.

Producer: Karen Taylor, producer and writer who worked on LGBT themed films in her career, always looking for a new project to be involved in.